2012 Tribute Evening Invitation Designer Spins a Creative Twist

When the 2012 Tribute Evening Planning Committee shared this year's retro-70's theme with graphic designer Laua Spanfelner from Sabol Design, an idea for promotional materials for the annual gala germinated as she recalled the past.

"My thoughts went back to those days before iTunes, when my music collection was a stack of 45's and a bunch of those "greatest hits" LP's," recalled Laura. " I have so many great memories of those vinyl records, trading them with friends, belonging to the Columbia Record and Tape Club, making mix tapes, and many other musical memories from my formative years."

With the addition of the evening's entertainment, ABBAMANIA, the music from the 70's era and all the wild, funky colors seemed to fit. At first, Laura looked into having new vinyl records pressed, but the idea of reusing 45 records seemed a fantastic fit with the commitment of the Pomeroy companies to recycling and repurposing. Laura acquired 2,507 records from local sources (thrift stores, garage sales, and Craigslist) and from around the country on Ebay.

Laura designed a new "record label" which was printed with the invitation information onto a circular shaped sticker that was applied over the existing label. "Boxes and boxes of the 45's filled an entire van, and it took many volunteers to apply the invitation stickers. Laura says it was all worth it. "Most of these "oldies" were likely destined to a landfill and I was glad to be able to repurpose them into the invitation for this year's gala."

Each invitation is a real 45, so you could put it on a record player and hear anything from the Beatles, Led Zeppelin or even the original ABBA!